Many meth lab homes are filthy, often strewn with drug paraphernalia, meth making chemicals have been found in diaper bags and toy boxes. The children are often infested with lice.

What are lice?
Lice are tiny insects that live on humans and feed on blood. When a large number of lice live and multiply on a person, it is called an infestation.

Lice die if they are away from a human's head or body for more than 2 days. Lice are 1-3 mm long (about the size of a sesame seed) and cling to the hair shaft. During the life cycle of lice, the female louse lays eggs, called nits that attach to the hair shaft close to the scalp or body. These nits, which resemble dandruff, will attach with a gluelike, water-insoluble substance that makes them difficult to remove. After 6-10 days, the nits hatch as nymphs and become adults in 10 days. Adult lice live about 30 days on their human hosts.

• Head Lice are usually found in hair, most often on the back of the neck and behind the ears. Head lice are common in preschool and elementary school-age children. Adults can get them too, especially adults who live with children.

How Can I Tell if My Child Has Lice?
Though very small, lice can be seen by the naked eye. What you might see by thoroughly examining your child's head:

• Lice eggs (called nits), which look like tiny yellow, tan, or brown dots before they hatch. After hatching, the remaining shell looks white or clear. Lice lay nits on hair shafts close to the skin's surface, where the temperature is perfect for keeping warm until they hatch. Nits look sort of like dandruff, only they can't be removed by brushing or shaking them off. Unless the infestation is heavy, it's more common to see nits in a child's hair than it is to see live lice crawling on the scalp. Lice eggs hatch within 1 to 2 weeks after they are laid.
  
  
• Adult lice and nymphs (baby lice). The adult louse is no bigger than a sesame seed and is brownish tan (although lice may look darker on people with dark hair). Nymphs are smaller and become adult lice about 7 days after they hatch. Most lice feed on blood about every 4 to 6 hours, but they can survive up to 3 days off the scalp.
  
  
• Scratching. With lice bites come itching and scratching. However, the itching may not always start right away - that depends on how sensitive your child's skin is to the lice. It can sometimes take weeks for kids with lice to start scratching. They may complain, though, of things moving around on or tickling their heads.
  
  
• Small, red bumps or sores from scratching. For some the irritation is mild; for others, a more bothersome rash with crusting and oozing may develop. Excessive scratching can also lead to a bacterial infection (the skin would become red and tender around the bite area).

Oil-based treatments, such as mayonnaise and olive oil, are no longer recommended. Some people use a shower cap or plastic wrap over the oil. This could cause death if the plastic slipped over the face of a sleeping child.

 

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